The future of Transformers

"Behind the scenes at Hasbro, there is a debate about the direction & future of how to market Transformers.

"Much of the current marketing staff view Transformers as their "younger" boy┬┤s action brand, while GI Joe is aimed at older boys. Thus they want simplified toys with gimmicks over poseability. Each series will be centered on the gimmicks rather than the characters much like the HeadMasters-ActionMasters years of Generation One. The fact that the current cartoon was as childish as it is was merely a fluke. No one at Hasbro had really paid much attention to the Armada cartoon until the criticisms started rolling in. From within the fandom and within Hasbro┬┤s own offices.

"A small segment of Hasbro┬┤s work force (sadly not the decision makers of the company) view Transformers as epic sci-fi and want it to replace the quietly dying Star Wars brand for boys, teens AND adult collectors. But the brass see the fandom as little more than a nuisance and are unwilling to risk a major marketing campaign to attract more of them.

"Right now there is a serious debate about whether the next series will continue the "Final Fantasy" approach and aim squarely at boys 4-9, or whether it will feature the return of the characters from Generation One in some form.

"While Hasbro is not taking the adult collector┬┤s interest seriously, Takara and surprisingly Cartoon Network have BOTH voiced an opinion to Hasbro to redirect the brand back to G1."

This is strictly a RUMOR. However, if I get more information on this, you can bet I┬┤ll post it RIGHT HERE @ SEIBERTRON.com!